Journey dates:2 -3 Jan, 2009
(Warning: This is a post which I had written when I was damn bored and has turned out to be toooo lengthy! Keep yourself awake :P )
It was a cold january morning in Gurgaon. I was sitting at my office desk waiting for some work to come. It was a long long wait and I knew I would get nothing till the end. It is the season when our consultants are on the beach, literally! It was just 4 of us in our team in the Gurgaon office and we were doing nothing other than debating whether Shakti (one of my colleagues) should or not start looking for a girl to marry :P It was 2 30 and I decided it was a waste of time staring at the monitor. I had one and a half days before I had to leave for Agra for my training and so decided to set off to the pink city. I started off to the guest house in a rick. It was damn cold (being a chennaiite) even at that time of the day!
That elevator at the guest house sucks badly.. I could have reached Jaipur the time I had to wait for the lift to arrive and take me through to the 17th floor. Finally, rushed to my room, had a sip of chai, packed in a hurry and reached IFFCO chowk around 3.30. There was something special about this trip I was about to start - the first time I was travelling alone, a leisure trip all alone ;)
A lot of buses went by but I was determined to take the volvo. After almost an hour of futile wait, all I could get is a typical Haryana state dabba bus! .. I got into it, got a seat, plugged my music player and started to enjoy NH8 in half-sleep. The bus stopped midway around 6.30 where I gobbled a packet of lays. As I was standing outside waiting for the bus to start, a guy in late 20's flashed a friendly smile and went on to ask me if I studied in some xyz college in Chandigarh. I was like ?!!?! and explained him that I studied in a college 2k km downsouth in Chennai. He dint seem to be convinced and was like 'no, you look like my college junior'.. ooph! thank god, the bus started in a couple of minutes!
Finally the bus reached Jaipur sindhi camp bus stand by 9. I rushed to the counter to book my volvo ticket for the next afternoon; the guy in the counter told that seats were available, much to my relief; got my change, said a stylish 'thank you' and left, only to realize after five minutes that I forgot to collect my ticket! I rushed back to the counter, the guy was decent enough to tell me 'koi problem nahi .. anyway I would have been in the counter tomorrow when you come to board bus' .. For a moment I thought what kind of respect I 'd have got in my city in a similar situation!!
The hotel I had booked sent me a cab for pick up and how good was the driver's English! Honestly, he sounded like a Harvard grad (don't ask me if I have spoken to a harvard grad before :P).. Perhaps they are trained to cater to the huge influx of foreign tourists in Jaipur. The hotel 'Krishna palace' had around 7-8 rooms most of which were occupied by foreigners. It was 9.30 when I settled in my room. The hotel was under renovation but the rooms were decent and the hospitality above par for a reasonable 500 bucks a night. I had a shot at the mouth watery parathas and malai kofta and decided I should stop after I felt I was going overboard after 6 parathas :P..
The next day was going to be hectic. I had to wrap up sight seeing before noon and board my bus at 3. The manager booked for me a seat in the RTDC's (Rajastan tourism) half a day sight seeing tour. The time was 10.30 and I hit the bed relishing the lingering taste of malai kofta :P
The few hrs going around Jaipur:
It was 7.40 when I got up and I had to be at the RTDC's starting point by 8 for their city tour. I dint even know what I did in the next 15 min and was there at 8 sharp .. And then the sad part! The guy was like ' sorry saab .. ghaadi full ho chuki hai'.. i was like what the hell !!.. I couldn't argue much with my broken hindi and decided to listen to him .. finally he arranged for a prepaid auto after making me wait for close to half an hour. The driver was really cool and he started explaining me the history of jaipur. The city seems to have totally built by two main rulers - Mansingh and Jaisingh.
First we started through the broad and wide roads of the new city. We went thro the statue circle, a popular junction in the city. The city basically consists of three divisions - the new city, the old city and the pink city which is surrounded by walls on all the sides and has seven gates to enter and exit. I had an entirely different notion of jaipur, that of congested streets and dusty roads. How much I was disproved! The new city was tidy and awesome, putting its metro counterparts to shame. The driver first stopped at the Rajmandir, a cinema with its interiors built in the form of a palace. It was too early at 9 in the morning and I couldn't try the place :P .. Then we went on to the Birla mandir, where we stopped and I went inside to offer prayers. It was the typical birla mandir which you find in other places, the pleasing white marble, the serene surroundings, a beautiful pathway leading to the temple. I clicked a few snaps and we left to the next point - the city museum. It wasn't open yet and I had to contend with clicking the exteriors and moving on.
The pink city:
We passed through a gate and entered the pink city boundary. We first went through the Hawa mahal. This was a huge structure with more than 300 windows in the exterior. (I dint count though, just telling what the guide told me ;)). It seems that in the early days, ladies were not allowed to come to the streets to watch the activities during any festival or any other ritual and hence the ladies of the royal family would watch from those windows. I clicked a snap from the outside and we moved on.
It was so amazing to see each and every building painted in pink. The driver cum guide was explaining to me the history of the pink city. It seems the then ruler of jaipur covered the entire city with pink sheets of cloth to welcome some British general who was visiting the city. The then jaipur's boundary was just the pink city area as its presently called. The ruler got very impressed by the decoration and ordered the entire city to be painted in pink. And since then, this part of the city, all the streets, shops and houses are always clad in pink. It seems that the pink colour they use is not chemical paint but natural colour got from mixing brick powder and water.
The pink city is also known for its excellent planning. Its a belief that no disasters or natural calamities have happened to the city owing to its perfect planning (includes some vasthu and stuff). I also heard something interesting from the driver regarding the recent bomb blasts in jaipur. It seems the government had actually altered some traffic movement into and out of the pink city a few weeks before the attack. I dont remember exactly but i guess it was about the swapping of entry and exit gates for the city. The driver told that the people there believe that this altering of vasthu had led to the sudden terrorist attack in the city, which for ages had not been affected by any such disaster. Interesting!!
The driver told me a lot of valuable information about the history of the town and the rulers but unfortunately I dint have anything to note them down. The fact that I am remembering this much after almost a month is itself a testimony to my memory :P .. And he was kind enough to speak slowly to me realizing that I am not able to catch up with his natural speed of talking hindi.
The old city:
We then exit the pink city as I skipped to see the city palace. The palace is still being occupied by people of the royal family and they have renovated a part of it and built a star hotel. We went on to visit the Amer fort, some 20 km away from the city. The jaigarh fort is en route but I skipped it as the driver said tourists are not allowed inside the fort. The Amer fort was just awesome, its located on a small hill away from the city. You need to climb quite an amount of steps to get to the top. You can also take an elephant ride to the top but I preferred to take the stairs. There is a huge hall which houses all the antique stuff of the Rajput period. This place is a must visit in Jaipur and I found it to be the best of all the places!
On our way back, we stopped at the Jal mahal, a palace in the middle of a lake. The water looked dirty but it seems the Oberois have taken up the work of cleansing it and there are plans to convert it into a five star hotel.
So now I was done with all the places and well ahead of my schedule. I got dropped off at my hotel around 1. My checkout time was 12 noon and I braved to convince the hotel manager with my hindi skills that I will vacate the room by 2. He finally agreed when I told him that I was going to have my lunch there. This time it was panner butter masala (home made paneer :P). Delicious! I finished my last meal at jaipur and was just lazing on my bed. Suddenly I woke up to realize that it was 2.40 and I had dozed off after a heavy meal. I packed my bags, settled my hotel dues (the manager was so good not to bother about my extra time or was he bad not to wake me up ?! :P) and rushed to the bus stand. The volvo was comfortable and I plugged my music player, starting to read my traveller magazine.
Some observations ...
A middle-aged lady was sitting next to me. She was on her phone all the time for the next one hour almost and it dint seem to be all important stuff as well. Abuse of a technology I thought! .. The bus stopped at Rajasthan government's 'Hotel midway' which is almost located at midway distance to Delhi. I went to the counter and asked him a bill for 'Tea, sandwich' which he heard as 'theen sandwich' ! .. ooph .. gobbled up three sandwiches with no complaints. The bus started moving and the lady struck into a conversation. She lives in Delhi and comes to Jaipur every month to get some stuff for her business in Delhi (Jaipuri bed sheets, sarees, etc) .. Oh ya I forgot!.. In jaipur, the auto driver took me to the cottage industries complex where I was explained how they make natural colour prints on rajais, sarees and other dresses. It was really interesting until they started marketing the rajais to me. It took me some time to make him understand that I was not interested in buying anything there!.. But seriously, you should take a look at those twin sided rajais, they come with different colorful designs and jaipur is told to be famous for those.
Coming back to the journey, the lady started talking about a lot of things including the courtesy and helping nature of south indians, etc. The topic drifted towards inter-caste marriages and stuff, she being a Punjabi and her husband a Bengali, she was talking about how they adjusted in their early days.. she started talking about her two sons and showed me some pics of their drawings which she had in her mobile.. There I found a striking difference between people in the south and in the north. In the north, people befriend very easily, they say a hello, start talking , more discussions, arguments and they part as brothers at the end of a journey. I have observed this quite earlier during my trips to ahmedabad as well. But I feel people in the south are a little more conservative to strangers, as in, they don't open up easily and even if they do, its just a casual talk lasting for a few minutes.
Traveling alone has its own advantages and downsides. Downsides - the obvious, you need to be all alone, none to share your views on places and things, and of course the clicking part :P (how tough it was!.. I would catch hold of foreign tourists in almost every place to get clicked .. and the pics came well :P) But I 'd say there are more advantages to travelling alone - you get to observe things in that place, no distractions around, you tend to observe the local culture and flavours, you tend to talk to different people, its really amazing. Atleast I enjoyed it ;) Finally it was around 8.30 after the driver battled the heavy fog to reach IFFCO chowk. It was biting cold with lots and lots of fog coming out of my mouth. I took a rick and reached my guest house in ten minutes. Finally! what a journey it was.. My first 'I,me,myself' trip , I would say, was a truly memorable one!
From Delhi to Jaipur:
Bus: There are a lot of Rajasthan and Haryana state transport buses. The best option is to take a Rajasthan state transport goldline or volvo bus. Journey time: 5.5 - 6.5 hrs (depending on traffic and fog in winter). Fare: Goldline A/c - Rs.400, Volvo - Rs.500.
Train: A couple of day trains. Takes 5 1/2 - 6 hrs. If you are on a very hectic schedule, try the early morning Shatabdi frm Delhi which reaches Jaipur around 11. You have around 6 hours for seeing around and you can take the return Shatabdi around 6.
Jaipur sight seeing:
RTDC half-day tour: 180 per head (covers almost all places) ,there is a night tour as well from 6.30 to 10.30 , fare: 200 (incl. dinner)
Prepaid auto: 400 (all places). Must-see: Amer fort. Also try Choki Dhani, a heritage village some 20 km away from the city.
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